Interpretive Summary: Regional stocker cattle operations in the southern plains desire the availability of a cool-season perennial grass forage that can be grazed from early-to-mid spring. Cooperative research between the USDA-ARS Grazinglands Research Laboratory and the Japanese Grassland Farming Forage Seed Assoc. have identified an endophyte free tall fescue cultivar that can fulfill some of the needs of the stocker cattle grazing industry and livestock-wheat producers utilizing a graze-plus-grain wheat system. Nanryo tall fescue is an early, tall fescue variety that has shown tolerance to drought and high temperatures in central Oklahoma equivalent to later maturing tall fescue cultivars. Nanryo was originally developed in Japan and co-evaluated for release in the USA by the Kyushu Agricultural Experimental Research Station, Kumamoto, Japan and the USDA-ARS, Grazinglands Research Station, El Reno, OK. Nanryo is a leafy, tall fescue forage cultivar with a rough leaf texture, capable of producing early yields that are comparable to Dovey tall fescue. Early spring forage production yields obtained in March, 2005 indicate that Nanryo and Dovey are equivalent in forage production and exceed the early spring production potential of MaxQ-Jessup and Kentucky 31. Early spring forage quality estimates indicate that Nanryo exhibits forage quality components comparable to other tall fescue varieties. The early vigor and spring forage productivity make Nanryo a useful tall fescue cultivar for graze-plus-grain grazing systems where livestock is rotated in mid-March (Oklahoma) from a dual purpose wheat pasture to a cool-season grass forage pasture in order to obtain a grain crop and continue feeding grazing livestock. Nanryo is also suggested for use in blends with later maturing tall fescue varieties to lengthen the forage production potential of the grazing pasture. The lack of the toxic endophyte should result in the omission of fescue toxicosis in grazing livestock.

Technical Abstract:
Nanryo is an early maturing, endophyte-free, medium-green, upright tall fescue that has shown good forage quality and production in trials in Japan and central Oklahoma. Nanryo was originally developed in Japan and co-evaluated for release in the USA by the Kyushu Agricultural Experimental Research Station, Kumamoto, Japan and the USDA-ARS, Grazinglands Research Station, El Reno, OK. From the Japanese 1980-1982 performance trials, Nanryo was superior in forage production compared to cultivars Yamanami, Hokuryo, Manade, Forager and Kentucky 31. In Japanese forage performance trials, Nanryo was competitive to Dovey and Southern Cross and superior to Bronson, Barcel, Barolex, TF-33, MaxQ Jesup, Georgia5 and Penngrazer. Oklahoma forage performance trials conducted at the USDA-ARS, Grazinglands Research Laboratory, El Reno, OK, indicate Nanryo was competitive in forage productivity with Dovey and during extreme drought conditions, competitive in forage production to Penngrazer, Barcarella, Fawn and Kentucky 31. Early spring forage production yields obtained on March 11, 2005 at El Reno, OK indicate that Nanryo and Dovey were similar in early forage production and exceeded early spring forage production of MaxQ-Jessup and Kentucky 31. Early spring near-infra-red reflectance spectroscopy estimates also obtained on March 11, 2005 at El Reno, OK provided crude protein, acid digestible fiber and neutral digestible fiber estimates of 24.39, 22.82, 40.93 for Nanryo; 21.41, 27.69, 49.18 for Dovey; 29.08, 20.35, 38.23 for MaxQ-Jessup; and 19.84, 25.87, 46.17 for Kentucky 31. Near-infra-red reflectance spectroscopy estimates obtained on April 11, 2005 provided crude protein, acid digestible fiber and neutral digestible fiber estimates of 17.25, 27.10, 45.69 for Nanryo and 22.46, 24.08 and 43.29 for MaxQ-Jessup. Nanryo should be productive in most regions of the USA where tall fescue is an adapted and productive grass forage for grazing livestock. The early vigor and spring forage productivity of Nanryo make it a useful tall fescue cultivar for graze-plus-grain grazing system where livestock is rotated in the early spring (mid-March in Oklahoma) from a dual purpose wheat pasture to a cool-season grass forage pasture in order to obtain a grain crop and continue feeding grazing livestock.